


I Met A Man With A Taste For Chestnuts

by thisislegit



Series: A Fresh Start [1]
Category: Lupin III, Samurai Jack (Cartoon)
Genre: First Meetings, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24413944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisislegit/pseuds/thisislegit
Summary: “But you were at home with your family.”Jack chewed on the other piece of his kuri kinton, “You’d think it’d be a happy ending, yes?”Goemon nodded.“Consider that I was living in a future with thousands of technological advancements, and with this knowledge I returned to a place that is conservative in nature.”“Oh.” Goemon grabbed a plate and grabbed a piece of kuri kinton for himself. “I can see the issue.”
Relationships: Samurai Jack/Ishikawa Goemon XIII
Series: A Fresh Start [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1766713
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	I Met A Man With A Taste For Chestnuts

**Author's Note:**

> i have never done a crack ship or a crossover ship in my entire life and ya know what? im allowed to indulge myself, you dont have the right to judge me
> 
> un-betad

Jack had been in this future for several years now. His wanderings brought him to places both familiar and different despite his location not changing. Time had worn down or completely eradicated areas he’d once been and although some spots had replicas built in their place, others were overwrought with nature making them both beautiful and nearly unrecognizable were it not for a few signs or symbols that had yet to be hidden by foliage. Some places in Japan were allowed to remain the same if not filled with more tourists, while others were allowed their respite with locals and the care those locals provided.

Though the world still had it’s problems, the scale of it wasn’t a catastrophic mess that left every living being in a vulnerable state when each problem occurred. The illusion of peace and permanence, he’d noted in his journal, was how this future functioned. He supposed the best part was that his clothing no longer made him stand out in a way that earned harassment. Instead, people thought of him as an actor or someone dedicated to a culture that was being somewhat lost and also ingrained into modernization.

“Excuse me.”

Jack looked down to see a small blonde woman with bright makeup in a dark colored dress. “Yes?”

“Is it all right if we get a picture with you?”

“We?” He looked behind her to see several other tourists and a tour guide with a big smile on her face. “I suppose that would be all right.”

“Thank you!”

She quickly waved over her group and Jack found himself in the middle, having to tilt his hat up as not to bump it into anyone. The tour guide held the camera and everyone smiled holding up peace signs as she took several pictures. He received another thank you from several of the tourists before they went back onto their path. In a way he was used to this sort of treatment by now, but he wondered how far his visage stretched on their computers if they got anywhere at all. It’s not as though he was worried someone would recognize him, but his curiosity got the better of him at times.

He adjusted his hat once more and continued his walk up the steep hill the town was built on. It was the season for chestnuts, and Jack remembered he’d come to gather sweets for the evening as he looked at the prices. The cold air was one thing, but the wind was another as he stepped into the small shop and sighed in relief from the warmth within. One of his favorite things about the future was their air cooling and heating systems.

An older woman stood behind the counter, her apron pristine and the wrinkles on her face deepening as she smiled. “Welcome.”

“Hello.” Jack looked at the selection. Some of their boxes had at least 36 pieces, and he wondered what kind of parties would need that many before he managed to spot the smallest box of 6. “Could I have six kuri kinton?”

“Of course. One moment.” The older woman turned around to grab one of the last wrapped boxes before a man came from the back and set a freshly wrapped set down in its place. “Did you get them into the correct boxes?”

The man stuttered for a moment as the bell for the entry way rang and the older woman threw a soft “welcome” over her shoulder while waiting for his answer.

A different man came in to stand at the counter beside him. At first Jack did a double take as he was also wearing a strawhat and traditional clothing. Then he released his held breath when the thought came to him that he was definitely an actor. He looked young, and the front of his shirt was rather open.

A younger woman moved from her place behind the register to help him. “What would you like?”

“Two manju please. I do not need a bag.”

Jack snorted and quickly looked away when he felt the other man’s eyes on him. He would rather not start a fight and cause the stranger embarrassment. The older woman finished her dialogue with the man and started going towards the register prompting Jack to follow. Yet, as he took his second step his coin purse clattered onto the ground sending money skittering across the floor.

“Oh! Pardon me. One moment.” Bending down he gathered the spilled coins counting as he scooped them back into the purse, but noting several things. The fabric of the purse was unharmed, and there’d been no holes in his pocket before. Reaching into his pocket he found a very evenly ended hole which was odd in that if there was a tear there would be loose strings. This seemed cut.

“Excuse me,” said the actor as he walked past Jack’s crouched form.

Could Jack really say he was an actor? Snapping his purse closed, Jack paid further attention to the stranger. His gait was evenly measured, but the weight the sword bore on his pants pointed to it being very real. The sheath seemed well cared for, but the wear on the handle meant it was well used. Teachers of martial arts did not carry their weapons around unless they were for shows or demonstrations, and they certainly did not use them to cut holes into other people’s clothing. Jack watched the stranger leave and paid for his sweets, but stopped just inside the door when he saw the man waiting outside.

He weighed whether or not he wanted to risk a confrontation in such a busy space. His guard was completely up for the first time since he’d come to this period, and he didn’t like the feeling it brought. Street thugs were one thing, but a dealing with a skilled fighter was a different demon. Jack would just have to play dumb. He’d done a good job not making any enemies, and this man seemed as though he might become one if Jack didn’t make the right move.

Stepping outside, the bell rang above him as he placed his box and his coin purse into a different pocket.

“Your sword is real,” said the stranger.

“Ah, yes, well it’s very dull and old. Mostly for show. I do enjoy giving people photo opportunities.”

“You were assessing me.”

Jack waved his hands back and forth in surrender, “That is simply because you are playing your role very well. Method actors like me are an oddity for me to find especially when I am getting into character.”

“I am no actor.” The stranger barely moved which made Jack uneasy.

“My apologies.”

“Neither are you.”

The slightest twitch of a shoulder spurred Jack into motion first as he found himself holding the butt of the strangers’ sword down. The muscles in his forearm tensed as he prevented the man from drawing his weapon, but gave him a gentle smile. “I do not wish to fight here, if at all.”

“Who are you?”

“I don’t mind telling you over tea.” Jack waited until the tense line of the man’s shoulders loosened before removing his hand. “My home is not far.”

The stranger gave him a suspicious look from under his brim, but followed Jack back down the steep hill.

* * *

Jack wondered how he got himself into these situations. The man whose name he had yet to ask for sat at the small table in the sitting room. He’d left his hat and shoes by the door and let his sword rest by his side at Jack’s prompting. Now here Jack was making tea and having to share his somewhat expensive chestnut sweets since he had no other snacks to go with the tea. Ah well, it’s not as though he needed the extra sugar.

He made sure to set the cups and the teapot in such a way that it didn’t jostle when he moved the tray from the counter. There was only one heating and cooling unit in the small home, and Jack turned it on as he entered the sitting room. The wind wasn’t blowing as strongly to need a high temperature, but he enjoyed the dehumidifier setting that was automatically embedded. He set the tray down on the low circle table and adjusted his pillow before taking a seat himself.

Jack had placed his sword in his bedroom as a courtesy to his guest. He’d hoped it would make the other man less tense, but he caught the stranger eyeing his sword even as Jack poured tea for them both. He still looked rather young to be that wary of danger. Or perhaps his life was filled with more than Jack would find out?

He reached up for his hair stick but paused when the man flinched. “Do you mind?”

“I do not.”

Jack undid the clip and set it in his lap. His hair fell into his face and he brushed the longer blades behind his ears. Although he’d spent a lot of time with it pulled up that had been when a battle was always around the corner. Now he felt more relaxed at home when it was down.

“My name is Jack,” he curled his hands around his mug and lifted it towards his lips, “and you are?”

“Goemon Ishikawa the 13th.”

Hot tea sputtered from his lips and he set the cup down with a bout of coughing. His hands flitted around until he found a napkin to wipe his face with.

“You know of me.”

Jack dabbed the green fabric at his mouth, “I know of your ancestor.”

Goemon Ishikawa the first was quite the character. Though his deeds of relocating wealth were honorable in who they helped, he always caused a ruckus where he went. Jack’s most vivid memories of him was seeing him as a child tipping scales at the stands where sellers were known to overcharge and snatching fruit before he could get caught. His jokes were also terrible. To have his descendent sit across from Jack now, and for his personality to be the complete opposite of his namesake was a wonder in itself.

“He was a thief, and a ninja, but you are-.”

“I’ve been trained in those arts among others. I was raised to be an assassin.”

Oh no. Jack knew this man would be dangerous. “I see.” He took another sip of his tea. “Please help yourself to the kuri kinton. I do not trust that I could finish them all.”

“You have said your name, but you have not told me who you are.”

He was definitely the polar opposite of the first Goemon.

“I cannot even gauge your lineage from such a name.”

Jack had forgone his birth name a long time ago out of convenience, a grasp for anonymity for his first trip to the future, and because it had not felt right hearing it when he’d returned to the past. He didn’t want to explain all of that. He doubted Goemon would believe him. Actually, maybe if he told Goemon everything he’d be called crazy and his fellow swordsman would leave Jack to his solitude without spurring conflict down the road. Or Goemon might go into a rage thinking he was being tricked and attack Jack. He’d gambled with higher odds.

“I am a traveler from the distant past.” Jack grabbed a small plate putting two of the bundled sweets on top and taking a spoon to one. “Sent on a quest to observe the future and make sure my work was not in vain.”

Silence greeted him as he ate half of his first piece. The small lumps of chestnut and the smoothness of the sweet potato was delicious. He would have to return to the shop later this week and get another box.

“What work?”

Jack kept his eyes closed and took another sip of tea to hide his surprise. This one wanted to see how far the rabbit hole went. He’d indulge him. “My work in defeating an ancient evil that sought to bring suffering and darkness to this world and those beyond it.”

“You couldn’t possess such abilities.”

The sting of his loss returned with a vengeance and Jack had to set his cup down. “Alone? No, I did not.”

Perhaps it was his change in tone, or maybe there was an expression on his face he wasn’t aware of, but for the first time since Goemon walked into the small house he’d lifted his cup and took a sip of tea. Jack waited for the standard reaction. A “it’s delicious” or “where did you buy this?” he’d get from the occasional neighbor visit, but Goemon only adjusted how his legs rested and held the cup towards his chest.

“Tell me your story.”

Jack looked at him. Really looked at him. He was serious. Swallowing the lump that began to form in his throat, Jack moved his hands to rest in his lap. Going into detail would be like scratching at old scars and re-opening wounds not yet healed. He did his best to gather his words in a way that would be concise but comprehensible.

“Long ago, there was an evil sealed deep within the land. By circumstance and powers that be, it was released and wreaked havoc among my home. I was too young to fight at the time, so I was taken away and trained in hopes I would be strong enough to defeat it.” Jack stared at the tea leaves that sank to the bottom of his cup. “When I was old enough, and my masters told me there was nothing more they could teach, I returned home. With the weapon bestowed from the gods to my father and from my father to me, I fought the darkness. However, before I could end it the creature sent me into the future. A different future where he had won.”

“He?”

Jack tore his gaze from his cup. He’d slipped up. “Yes…He. He called himself Aku.”

“What an unoriginal name.”

Jack chuckled, “You are right, but it was enough. People feared him, his power, his influence, his ridiculous flaming eyebrows.”

“Did you?”

“Sometimes. There is no courage without fear.”

Goemon nodded, and when no further statements came Jack continued.

“In that future the world was a dark place. Colonies from other planets had made their way onto ours. Intergalactic travel was a normality. Wars spiked as often as waves cresting upon the shore. Robotic surveillance was commonplace. Villages were destroyed and lives were taken all under the guise of progress, and Aku did it all with a smile. I fought his influence whenever and where ever I could, and I made companions I had trusted with my life.” Jack set his cup down so he could refill Goemon’s. “But time wears us all down at some point or another.”

“You lost?” Goemon held his cup out and blew the steam from the rim.

“Myself, yes. My grief, my anger, my apathy, all of it ate away at me. I was tired. No matter how hard I fought, nothing seemed to be changing and the way home began to mold from a goal to a dream. Then, I saved someone.”

“It sounds like you saved many people,” Goemon said.

“I did, but Ashi was different.” Jack let himself remember her. The one thing he’d been avoiding after coming to this time. “She was angry and brash. A handful to be around, but she pushed me and helped me realize I had given up when I should not. I’m not sure if a part of me knew that giving up on her would also mean finally giving up on myself, but that was how I rationalized it to cope. We went to fight Aku, and companions that I thought I had lost to time returned to me to help. Them and their descendants. Finally, I managed to return to my own time with her help, and we won.”

Goemon tried to discreetly pull out one of the manju he had purchased behind his tea cup, and Jack pretended not to see him eat it.

“But it was not to be. Ashi was from the future, and her ties to Aku were close enough that without him taking over the land, she had never been created. She vanished from existence on our wedding day, and I was alone with the realization that all my of my companions would never come to be in the way I knew them if at all.”

“But you were at home with your family.”

Jack chewed on the other piece of his kuri kinton, “You’d think it’d be a happy ending, yes?”

Goemon nodded.

“Consider that I was living in a future with thousands of technological advancements, and with this knowledge I returned to a place that is conservative in nature.”

“Oh.” Goemon grabbed a plate and grabbed a piece of kuri kinton for himself. “I can see the issue.”

“I could not remarry. I had birthed no heir. I was coping with the loss of my wife, but the ideas I proposed to help strengthen and develop our kingdom scared people. I’d become a stranger in the eyes of my family. A man of the past thrown into the future, a man of the future thrown into the past. There was no longer a place for me, so my parents devised a plan. I was the only one with experience dealing with affairs unknown to that period, and magic was still being drawn out from the world by the gods, but they had no idea if my actions truly prevented the darkness from coming in a different form.” Jack cut the second piece of his sweet in half. “After choosing an heir, they gathered elders and sent me to the future once more on this quest of observation. My sword was returned to me in case they misjudged the dangers the future held, and here I am.”

Goemon was quiet for a while, and Jack did not mind the silence. The clinking of silverware on plates and the loud sips of tea blended with the wisps of wind whipping at the windows. This was nice. It was always nice having company, but he felt lighter finally having told someone everything.

“I know you don’t believe me, but thank you for listening.”

“I believe you.”

Jack opened his mouth and then shut it. That was new.

Sensing an explanation was needed, Goemon went on to say, “I have met a time traveler before, but he was from the future. He wished to erase the existence of one of my companions, and we destroyed his machine before that happened.”

“You listened because you wanted to make sure I was not a threat?”

“Yes.” Goemon shifted his legs under him. “But you’re not like he was.”

“Hmm, I’m glad to hear it, but I feel as though there’s more to that story.”

“I know there is more to yours.”

Jack poured the last of the tea between their cups, “If I told you everything you’d be here for days.”

“I would not mind.”

Jack would be lying if he said he didn’t almost drop the teapot. Did he know what that sounded like? He tried getting a read on Goemon’s expression, but the samurai preoccupied himself with his tea, his eyes downcast and the rim of the cup hiding any curve to his lips. Then again, perhaps Jack was reading too much into the statement.

“Of course from one warrior to another, there is a comfort in sharing battles past.” Jack gave Goemon the cover if he needed it.

“My thoughts exactly.”

He wasn’t sure if it was relief or disappointment settling in his stomach, but Jack finished the rest of his sweets.

When the tea was finished, and all was set aside, Goemon excused himself and Jack walked him to the door. “Thank you again for listening and for believing me.”

“You seem very bad at lying, so I have no choice but to believe you,” Goemon placed his hat onto his head.

Jack laughed, “You’re not wrong.”

“I do have another question before I go.”

“Hm?”

“What has been your favorite food since you’ve arrived in this time?”

“Corn soup.” Jack smiled again when Goemon balked at him. “What? Did you expect me to say the rice was better? There are many meals I’ve eaten that I will never have again, and corn soup is a close second to one of them.”

“I understand. Thank you for having me.”

“Feel free to visit when you like.”

“I shall.” Goemon bowed and opened the door. Once he was outside, he tilted his hat up as the wind blew his hair from his face. “I want to drink your tea again.”

Jack’s face flooded with heat when the door closed, and he covered his mouth with his hand. Perhaps this Goemon was more dangerous than he’d originally thought.

**Author's Note:**

> if there isnt more being written from my end im definitely posting art on my twitter coming up


End file.
